Broken Beyond Repair
by BJ Louis
Summary: It's Valentine's Day. We all need a little love...or angst. Especially Tifa and Cloud.


Gentle ocean breezes flowed through the streets of Junon. The breezes carried a chill; the type of chill that makes someone want to hold onto someone else to keep warm. The breeze also seemed to chase the sunlight away; the darkness starting to set in on Junon. Light stoppped entering the dirty windows of a auto-body garage that now sat on the main street in Junon. Only a few lights were turned on in the shop. That was all that was needed for there was only one mechanic working; his spikey yellow hair sticking up from the side of an old motorcycle. 

"Stupid engine..." Cloud muttered to himself. He reached over and grabbed a oil-stained rag and cleaned his hands off. Using his hands, Cloud pushed up to his feet and looked down at the motorcycle. The once-new paint job was reduced to a peeling eye-sore. The handle-bars that were once covered in fine handgrips now had silver duct-tape. The engine, the one that once purred like a cat, now stuttered like a dying dog. "Stupid engine" Cloud muttered again. 

"You're still working on that thing?" Cloud looked at the doorway to the shop. Through the lazy sunlight and dim work-lights he saw Tifa. Her hand was resting on the doorway; her hair was streaming down her back. Favoring him with a smirk, she pushed off the doorway and took a few steps forward. "You should just buy a new one" 

"What's the fun in that" Cloud chimed and grinned at her. "I can get it working" Confidence dripped out of his voice. Tifa let out a quick laugh and sat down on a work-bench near his toolbox. 

"You've been working on it for two months now...since you came back" Tifa reminded him. Cloud shrugged his shoulders and walked over towards his toolbox. And by proxy, towards her. He reached into the box and yanked out a flat-head screwdriver. "Are you still gonna sell it?" 

"I think I'm gonna keep it...if I ever get the stupid thing to work" Cloud grinned at her as he walked back towards the motorcycle. He kneeled on the ground and looked at the maze of wires and bolts that was underneath the peeling exterior of the motorcycle. "It's not impossible...just near impossible" Cloud started messing with the connections of the wires; he was actually hoping to find a bad one. 

"It's nice of them to let you just work in here whenever you want" Tifa pointed out to him. Cloud grunted his agreement and tested all the wires he could find. And each one was connected perfectly. Tifa crossed her legs and kicked her right leg around. Cloud tossed the screwdriver over his head and got to his feet again. He walked towards his toolbox one more time. And while he knew was looking up at him with a faint smile; his attention was on her right hand. The one with the ring. The one he did nto get her. 

"Yeah, it is...so, no offense, why'd you stop by Tifa?" Cloud pulled out his small socket set; his attention was now squarely on her face. Tifa made a face; her lips moving both left and right at once in a confused sense. 

"Well, you told us you'd stop by last night and you never showed" Tifa pointed out to him. Cloud took a deep breathe and headed back to his project. Tifa watched him kneel down again. Now she rose to her feet. "You should of came. You could have meet that girl who-" 

"I was pretty tired" Cloud interrupted her. Tifa rolled her eyes and gave him a mocking nod. Cloud saw none of this; all he saw was a tangled mess of wires and bolts in front of him. 

"You're always tired. Or you're sick. Or you gotta work on your motorcycle" Tifa placed her hands on her hips and sneered at him. Cloud merely ignored her; the mess of wires his sole interest at the time. Tifa stomped towards the door of the garage and looked over her shoulder. "You know, life goes on Cloud. We all move on. That motorcycle isn't the only thing you can fix" 

"Some things are broken beyond repair..." Cloud's eyes saw through the mess of wires and bolts and locked onto her right hand. And the shining diamond that had beaten him to her. Tifa let some of the anger wash out of her. But some of that anger would never leave her. 

"Only to you Cloud...only to you" And with that, Tifa walked out of his view. Cloud took a deep breathe and waited for her to coem back to the doorway. To insult him. To chid him into going out that night. To do anything. But she never returned. And he finally realized how she must of felt all those times when he merely vanished. 

A/N: It's Valentie's Day. Everyone is writing sappy love stories or sad heart-breaking stories. Guess which one I choose? Anyways, this was just to be different and do a one-shot little story. Hope you enjoyed. 


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